10 songs with distinctive keyboard presets
There’s a common image associated with electronic musicians. Unlike their standard instrument peers, who can simply tune up and blast off, synthesiser users have to slave for hours on end just to get anything out of their instruments. Programming, changing waveforms, adding new effects – it’s tedious work hunching over a keyboard, and it’s not always guaranteed that the results will even sound very good.
So why not just cheat? Since the late 1970s, many synthesisers have come equipped with built-in presets that have distinctive sounds and tones ready at the push of a button. The drawbacks of using these presets are clear: they’re obvious and not terribly original, especially if the sounds can be figured out by electronic music novices.
Simplicity isn’t always a bad thing. For decades, prominent musicians have been taking the easy way to success by simply using the tools at their disposal. A large number of synthesiser owners aren’t electronic geniuses, or just don’t have the patience to sit around and programme a keyboard all day. There are a surprising amount of hit songs that are relatively easy to recreate if you know where to look.
Below are ten of the biggest songs of all time that feature well-known presets on keyboard instruments.
10 classic songs that steal from keyboard presets:
Kraftwerk – ‘Das Model’
Electronic music was still in its infancy when Kraftwerk were developing their sound. In their earliest records, the German pioneers sounded more like the Grateful Dead and their guitar-heavy sonic improvisations than anything else. However, as synthesisers began evolving rapidly, so too did Kraftwerk.
The band’s only number one single in the UK, ‘Das Model’, contains the distinctive buzz of the Polymoog synthesiser, one of the first synths that allowed users to play more than two notes at once. As Moog and electronic music were moving in tandem, so too were Kraftwerk changing at a phenomenally fast rate.
The Cars – ‘Let’s Go’
Few synthesisers have had the impact that Prophet-5 has had on popular music. First produced in a limited run in 1978, the Prophet-5 utilised microprocessors which allowed users to save the sounds that they programmed into the keyboard. No more trying to find the same elusive sound – the Prophet-5 made it easy to find your sound and keep it forever.
Eventually, the Prophet-5 would become the sound of the ’80s. Everyone from Prince and Michael Jackson to Eddie Van Halen would have a Prophet-5 in their arsenal, but one of the most distinctive (and earliest) uses of the keyboard came from The Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes, who memorably created the talkbox-like sound that forms the riff of the band’s hit song ‘Let’s Go’ from the Sync II preset.
Gorillaz – ‘Clint Eastwood’
Damon Albarn blew everybody’s mind when he showed how easy it was to craft a classic song during an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. Albarn proved you don’t need millions of dollars worth of equipment, and you don’t need to spend hundreds of hours programming the perfect beat. Sometimes, you just need to know where to look and what parts to steal from.
While messing around with an omnichord, a Japanese electronic instrument first produced in the early 1980s, Albarn simply clicked into the ‘Rock 1’ preset and stumbled onto the beat that became ‘Clint Eastwood’. It was such an obvious swipe that thousands of gearheads are now slapping their heads in disbelief. How Albarn got away with it we may never know.
The Beatles – ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’
This one is cheating a bit for one simple reason: Mellotrons aren’t synthesisers. It’s a bit difficult to parse through the technicalities of it, but the Mellotron actually preceded the mainstream adoption of synths, having been used as early as 1963.
Inside each Mellotron are different tapes that produce different sounds. In a way, they’re kind of like presets. So, in the spirit of that, we might as well put down what remains the most identifiable use of a Mellotron in the history of popular music: the opening flute-like sounds played by Paul McCartney on The Beatles’ ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’.
Ohio Players – ‘Funky Worm’
The sound of ’90s G-funk was the ARP Pro Soloist synthesiser. With its reedy tone and distinctive whine, the ARP synth added an unmistakable groove to one of hip-hop’s most important movements. But the roots of the ARP tone didn’t come to the fore in the ‘90s: it was actually stumbled upon two decades prior.
Funk legends the Ohio Players had made massive hit singles with songs like ‘Fire’ and ‘Love Rollercoaster’. But they were also a bunch of goofballs, as can be heard on the hit single ‘Funky Worm’. In order to emulate the sound of an inching animal, keyboardist Junie Morrison created the instantly recognisable ARP whine that would be key to G-funk 20 years later.
Kate Bush – ‘Running Up That Hill’
When ‘Running Up That Hill’ experienced its resurgence thanks to Stranger Things, fans of the track were desperate to find out how Kate Bush found those synth sounds. As it turned out, no one had really bothered to ask Bush at the time how she crafted those unique tones. It was only years later that we found out.
Bush utilised the Fairlight CMI synthesiser, specifically the built-in cello sounds that helped flesh out the song’s spacey atmosphere. The Fairlight was essential for crafting a number of samples and singles throughout the ’80s, but if you want a pure example of its power, just listen to almost every instrument on ‘Running Up That Hill.’
Van Halen – ‘Jump’
Eddie Van Halen remains one of the most iconic guitar players of all time. However, his love for the six-string was immediately preceded by his dedication to another instrument: the piano. Trained in a classical setting (although he never learned how to properly read music), Van Halen had a love of arpeggios and Bach-like compositions that eventually found their way into his tapping skills.
But as the band kicked off, Van Halen recognised that the synthesiser was here to stay. While experimenting in his own 5150 Studio, Van Halen began messing around with the A1 patch on the Oberheim OB-Xa synth. With a little tweaking, Van Halen stumbled upon the central riff that would become Van Halen’s only number one hit, ‘Jump’.
The Seinfeld Theme
Composer Jonathan Wolff had a new task before each episode of the legendary sitcom Seinfeld was aired, and had to re-do his iconic slap-bass theme song. The funky riffs that kick off each episode of Seinfeld might have all sounded the same, but Wolff went back in each time to slightly alter the speed and rhythm to match up with the comedic pace of Seinfeld himself.
At this point, it’s well-known that the theme doesn’t actually come from a bass guitar. Instead, Wolff used a bass patch on the Korg M1 keyboard to get the slap-happy tones needed for the theme song. Each one was slightly different, but Wolff rarely messed with the sound of the bass patch itself.
Berlin – ‘Take My Breath Away’
Synthesiser pioneer Giorgio Moroder has done more to introduce keyboards into pop music than just about anyone else in history. Working with everyone from Donna Summer and Blondie to David Bowie and Janet Jackson. But for millions of moviegoers, Moroder is best known for a few opening synth notes that appeared in Top Gun.
The brassy bass notes that kick off Berlin’s all-time power ballad ‘Take My Breath Away’ were a direct result of Moroder messing with the ‘Bass II’ preset on the Yamaha DX7 keyboard. Although they sound distinctively 1980s today, there was nothing more futuristic than Moroder’s synth bass in 1986.
Kenny Loggins – ‘Danger Zone’
Let’s stay with Top Gun for a second, because there’s another iconic song that would forever be associated with the film. Kenny Loggins’ high-octane hit single ‘Danger Zone’ was written specifically to give the opening of the film an energetic punch. In order to do that, Moroder went back to the same well that helped produce the iconic tones of ‘Take My Breath Away’.
Just like for the film’s central power ballad, Moroder decided that the Yamaha DX7 was what was going to propel ‘Danger Zone’ into the stratosphere. The ‘Bass II’ preset was once again employed in order to give the track its distinctive low tone, only instead of the rounded and brassy sound that underpins ‘Take My Breath Away’, it’s given more edge and attack on ‘Danger Zone’.
